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System of a Down
System of a Down (commonly referred to as System or abbreviated as SOAD) is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Glendale, California. All four members are of Armenian descent, grandsons of Armenian Genocide survivors, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs. System of a Down has achieved commercial success with over five albums, performing singles such as "Chop Suey!", "Aerials", "B.Y.O.B.", "Lonely Day", "Question!", "Toxicity", "Hypnotize", and "Sugar". Their works have earned them one Grammy Award amongst three nominations. System of a Down is a part of the Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization formed by band member Serj Tankian (along with Tom Morello), dedicated to bringing together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice. In the Beginning In the Beginning of System of a Down there was Soil, Soil was a band with Serj and Darron with the band and Shavo later in the band.. Sadly the band broke up after 3 years and became what they know best SoAD! System of a Down! System of a Down quickly started after Soil broke up and Darron came up with the name System of a Down from a poem he had wrote titled "Victims of a Down". Andy Khachaturian was a drummer for their first demo tape, Unknown 1995 Demo Tape was what it was titled for no one knows what it was until much later, Khachaturian left the band due to a massive hand injury. System of a Down played with their new drummer John Dolmayan in a bar and was found by the producer of all their albums Rick Rubin. With Rick Rubin they made a new demo tape but was not made public for years, it was leaked onto the internet. In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band award from the Rock City Awards. System of a Down hits shelves In 1998 the group got their first album System of a Down was made and processed. Their first single "Sugar" is their first ever single and became VERY popular everywhere. They were invited to play a tour but was kick off due to their not signing with Taproot. There is a Toxicity in our city! About time System of a Down have hit shelves again with another hit Toxicity! Toxicity hit #1 American and Canadian charts, they would eventually hit Multi platinum. They have to date sold 6 million copies of Toxicity and made numerous singles too. Here is an interesting fact from System of a Down, It was the top album in America on the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding their hit single "Chop Suey!" causing it to be taken off the radio as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as "(I don't think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide. Toxicity was also on Fuse and MTV a lot and made them very popular Go Ahead Steal this Article! Steal This Album! was released in November, 2002. The cover was basically in terms a Burned CD with STEAL THIS ALBUM! Trying to represent the simulations to someone putting the songs on a blank CD and then just labeling it STEAL THIS ALBUM! It was normal called Toxicity II when it leeched onto the internet with per to per mp3 file sharing network. The name of the Album was from the book "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman, possibly I.E.A.I.A.I.O, and Fuck the System! has some resemblance to his life. Boom! was made to help stop war in Iraq. In the 2005 era From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album, Mezmerize / Hypnotize with the two parts released six months apart. The first album, Mezmerize, was released on May 17, 2005, to favorable reviews by critics. It debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all around the world, making it System of a Down's second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwideneeded. The Grammy Award-winning single "B.Y.O.B.," which questions the integrity of military recruiting in America, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "Question!" was released with Shavo Odadjian co-directing the music video. Following the release of Mezmerize, the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada with The Mars Volta and Bad Acid Trip supporting. The second part of the double album, Hypnotize, was released on November 22, 2005. Like Mezmerize, it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with the Beatles, Guns 'N Roses, and rappers 2Pac and DMX, the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year. In February 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B.," beating out other established artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant. Their second single off the Hypnotize album, "Lonely Day" was released in March in the United States. System of a Down released "Kill Rock 'N Roll" and "Vicinity of Obscenity" as their next promo singles. The band headlined Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour founder Ozzy Osbourne opted not to appear or wasn't playing on the main stage. Future Plans? The band System of a Down has been successful for maybe almost 10 years, the band has become very good friends and have very different political and other view about society. Darron and John have recovered the band Scars on Broadway with a few other band members, they recently made a album titled Scars on Broadway. Darron stated in an interview that "They are not sure if they were going to come back together, if you are waiting for a Reunion then you are gonna turn blue and pass out". But also in multiple interviews and statements the bands reuniting is very possible and very unpredictable as so far to say. John also is starting a comic business similar to his idol comic company "Marvel". Serj Tankian, has also made his own album titled Elect the Dead. This album is about Iraq and various other things Serj believes in, people tend not to link the album due to it's different approach in musical style from System of a Down; but really that's what the band members want to be different from System. In this album John helps Serj with the drumming during the recording of the album. He now has a "Back up band" titled "Flying Cunts of Chaos". As for Odadjian, he started his new thing with directing a video for the reuniting of the punk rock band Bad Brains. He is also doing music for the movie 300 BC. He is also said he is in a band with Wu Tang Clan titled ACHOZEN, they said they have already began recording. As the future of the bands, all depends on the members. Discography for a better list click here Demo Tapes Studio Albums EPs Singles Official Bootlegs See Also * "Serj Tankian" * "Scars On Broadway" References * System of a Down's Official website * SOAD fan site * Wikipedia's article on System of a Down Links * Official Site * Russian System Of A Down Fan-Site Category:System of a Down Category:Musical groups established in 1994 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2010 Category:Musical groups from California Category:Alternative metal artists Category:Progressive rock groups Category:Progressive metal groups Category:Hard rock groups Category:American Recordings artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Musical quartets